I'll Get It
by flipomatic
Summary: Ako appeared as if out of nowhere by her side. How did she get there from the drums so quickly? "I'll get it!" She snatched the pencil from Lisa's grasp, dashing off out the studio door. The other two band members, who would usually be annoyed by a disturbance to practice time, said nothing. Lisa could only stand there in stunned silence. What was happening today?


Author Note: Happy Birthday Lisa! This is inspired by the Roselia birthday conversation on Bandori JP for Lisa's birthday.

* * *

The setting sun glowed bright red in the distance as Lisa walked home with Yukina from band practice, their forms casting long shadows against the sidewalk. They chatted about their day's; well, mostly Lisa talked while Yukina listened. If Lisa hadn't struggled so much at band practice it would've been a normal day.

"After I finished tuning, I put the tuner away right?" Lisa carried her bass case in one hand, using the other to gesture. "And then I went to play and it was just awful." Despite telling this story of misfortune, she grinned. "The e-string slipped so far… I'm lucky Sayo didn't hear it; she might've disowned me!" Lisa let out a chuckle to punctuate the statement.

"From the band?" Yukina narrowed her eyes almost imperceptibly. "Sayo wouldn't do that." The pair walked side by side with about half a foot of space between them.

"Yeah I know." Lisa appreciated the blunt response. "It stayed in tune after two more tries, so it turned out fine."

"I wonder if the humidity is causing it." Yukina mused.

"Could be." Lisa shrugged, thinking that humidity only effected acoustic guitars and not electric ones. She'd figure it out later. "Got any plans tomorrow?"

Yukina nodded once. "Continue polishing R. It still isn't coming together properly." Her lips were turned down into a slight frown, clearly also disappointed with practice that day.

Lisa hadn't really been asking about her band practice plans, but rolled with the conversation anyway. "Yeah I need to keep practicing it." She'd been having a tough time bringing it up to and maintaining tempo. When they rehearsed it Lisa could feel herself falling behind everyone else. The worst part was if she could just play it properly they could move on to practicing something else, but because she needed more time they were still devoting large chunks of practice time to R. "Sorry I keep messing it up, a less useless bassist would already be able to do it." She forced a small smile before muttering under her breath. "Not really contributing anything, am I?"

"What?" Yukina's eyes shot to hers suddenly, her voice sharp.

"Huh?" Lisa's heart clicked up a tempo at the intensity in Yukina's gaze.

What was this reaction?

A few seconds passed; the sun inched closer to the horizon.

The silence weighed down oddly on Lisa's shoulders; she couldn't bear it. Maybe Yukina had heard what she muttered? "T-that last part was just a joke." Lisa gave her fakest chuckle of the day so far, waving one hand in a dismissive motion.

Yukina's expression softened. "Okay." She said, breaking eye contact. "Do you want to come over and practice it tonight?"

That sounded like a great idea. "Absolutely!" Lisa didn't have to force this smile. "Ooh I have some cookies from the weekend too, I'll bring them!"

"Sounds good." Yukina nodded, her lip quirking up in a small smile.

The pair continued walking, conversation continuing.

Though the topic moved on, the original one was not forgotten.

* * *

Practicing with Yukina in the evening helped with R, and Lisa felt prepared for practice when school let out the next day. She needed to pick up her bass from her locker, so she agreed to meet Yukina at the school's entrance. It only took a few minutes to grab the instrument.

Yukina was already standing outside when Lisa arrived. She was usually ready to go first since she didn't have peripherals to carry. "Hey Yukina!" Lisa waved with her free hand as she approached. "Ready to go?"

Yukina turned towards Lisa slowly. "Almost." She said, reaching out with one hand. "Let me carry your bass today." Despite the strange words coming out of her mouth she used her usual tone of voice. To Lisa it was as if Yukina had grown a second head.

"What? You want to carry it?" Lisa asked incredulously. What was going on here? Why was Yukina asking this?

Yukina merely nodded, holding her hand up a little higher.

"Thanks for offering, but I've got it." Lisa tightened her grip on the bass. She could carry her own instrument just fine.

"Please give it to me." Yukina stepped closer, insistent eyes locked onto Lisa's.

"Uhhhh." Lisa resisted the urge to step back. "Why?"

"Please."

Yukina was being oddly insistent and a couple passing students were starting to stare. "Are you sure?" Lisa supposed there was no harm in it if Yukina could actually carry it.

Yukina gave a firm nod. "Yes."

Lisa handed over the instrument, placing the handle in Yukina's palm. The other girls arm dipped a little from the weight, but she didn't drop it.

"Thank you." Yukina firmed up her grasp on the case, turning to walk out of school grounds. "Let's get going."

Lisa followed, her mouth slightly agape. What was happening? Was she even awake? A pinch to her arm confirmed that indeed, Lisa was awake. Whatever had come over Yukina was real.

The pair walked to band practice like this, making small talk as they usually did. They walked a bit slower, and when Lisa tried to take her bass back midway through Yukina refused to return it. She asked why again but Yukina dodged the question.

They arrived at the rehearsal studio without incident, though when they walked in the front door Lisa insisted that Yukina give the instrument back. The walk had been easier without carrying it, but her arms felt odd and empty.

Sayo had already signed in to the rehearsal room, so the pair went straight there. As they approached their assigned space, Lisa could see Sayo standing outside of the room. She leaned against the door, looking at a piece of sheet music. Her guitar and bag were nowhere to be seen, so she must've put them inside already.

"Hey Sayo!" Lisa called to her.

"Imai-san, Minato-san." Sayo stood upright, greeting them curtly. "Good afternoon." She still stood in front of the door.

"What are you looking at?" Lisa asked, stopping in front of Sayo.

Sayo sighed. "Still R, I'm working on memorizing it." She scowled down at the paper.

"Nice!" Lisa would have to do that too pretty soon. "So, are we locked out or something?" Why else would Sayo be standing in front of the door? Did she accidentally lock herself out?

"Oh, no." Sayo's face flushed as she stepped to the side, pulling the door open. "Please go ahead, Imai-san."

Clearly whatever was causing Yukina's odd behavior was affecting Sayo too. "Ummm thanks Sayo!" Lisa mustered a smile, walking through the held door. Yukina followed behind her, muttering a thanks to Sayo as well.

Lisa took her bass to her usual spot, putting her belongings down to get ready for practice. Regardless of whatever afflicted her bandmates, she still needed to put her best foot forward for practice today. She unzipped her bass, took it out, and started to tune it.

She was almost done tuning when Rinko and Ako arrived.

"Yo!" Ako called to everyone, bouncing through the door.

"Hey girls!" Lisa greeted them, waving. "How was school?" She asked brightly.

Ako brought her hands up into a pose. "Heh heh heh, today Ako descended into an all new level of darkness!" She chuckled.

Lisa needed a translation. "Meaning?"

"She p-passed her math test." Rinko approached where Lisa stood, eyes cast down.

Lisa grinned. "Good job Ako!"

Rinko, having stopped next to Lisa, opened her bag and dug around in it for a moment, coming out with a small plastic pouch. "Imai-san, this is for you." Rinko held out the small pouch with both hands and Lisa gently took it from her. She hadn't been expecting anything, so this was a pleasant surprise.

It was a small pink plastic bag with a few cookies inside, tied shut with a bow. "Thanks Rinko!"

"Y-you're welcome." Rinko muttered before retreating to set up her piano without stopping in with the other second years. Did she not have cookies for Sayo and Yukina too, Lisa wondered. Why only bring cookies for her? Another odd one that day, Lisa shook her head, put the cookies in her bag, and resumed tuning her bass.

A few minutes later and she was ready to practice. She set up a music stand in her spot and plugged into the amp.

Once band rehearsal started, Lisa forgot about the strange behavior of her band mates in favor of putting 100 percent into her playing. Working with Yukina the night before had really helped with parts of R, so she was feeling more confident than the day before.

They managed to play the whole song through at tempo without tearing, which was a good start. Lisa picked up her pencil to mark a dynamic change that Yukina wanted to make. She pressed the graphite against the paper but, perhaps a bit too hard. The lead snapped, leaving her pencil useless.

"Oops." Lisa lifted it up to her eyes; yeah the lead was gone. "I'll be right back, have to go sharpen this."

Ako appeared as if out of nowhere by her side. How did she get there from the drums so quickly? "I'll get it!" She snatched the pencil from Lisa's grasp, dashing off out the studio door. The other two band members, who would usually be annoyed by a disturbance to practice time, said nothing. Lisa could only stand there in stunned silence. What was happening today? Were they antagonizing her? Were they trying to tell her something? She didn't understand. There were so many questions she wanted to ask.

Within a minute Ako had returned. She deposited the pencil, now with a sharp pointy tip, back into Lisa's open palm.

"Thanks Ako." Lisa still hadn't fully gathered her thoughts, but thanked Ako just the same. She marked the dynamic change in the music, nodding at Yukina to signal that she was ready to continue.

Band practice ran for another hour without interruption, Yukina calling it a day when they completed their 5th full run of R at tempo.

Even though practice was over, Lisa still had one more point of business with the band. She just needed to decide how to ask the question.

"So." She put her bass down on its case, gathering the groups attention with one word. "Why are you all acting weird today?" The question reverberated around the space as Lisa looked between her bandmates, trying to gauge their reactions. Yukina frowned minutely, Sayo hadn't even looked up from stowing her guitar, Rinko looked the same amount of nervous as usual, and Ako, well, Ako was sweating, refusing to make eye contact with Lisa.

"Ako," Lisa approached her. "What's going on?" She leaned a little to be closer to Ako's height.

"It wasn't me!" Ako practically squeaked, caving under the pressure. "It was Minato-san's idea!" Yukina's? Lisa turned her gaze to her best friend.

For her part, Yukina merely frowned. "It wasn't supposed to be weird." She muttered, barely loud enough for Lisa to hear.

"I don't understand." Lisa still didn't know what to make of this. "What was Yukina's idea?"

Rinko, bless her soul, offered up the answer. "Yesterday, Y-yukina-san said you were feeling down, so we wanted to cheer you up. Hikawa-san suggested helping you out with things." She fidgeted with her hands. "I guess it didn't work."

So that's it, Lisa thought, the confusion lifting. They were trying to cheer her up by doing nice things for her; she was just too dense to notice.

"It's working now." Tears welled up in the corners of Lisa's eyes. "I'm so touched, you didn't have to do any of that." Her heart swelled with warmth as she looked around at her bandmates.

"We wanted to." Yukina entered the conversation properly. "When you're upset the whole band suffers and I..." She hesitated and then started again. "We wanted to help."

"Thank you so much!" A tear escaped, as they always did. "I appreciate it!"

Yukina smiled softly. "I'm glad." Her gold eyes glowed warmly, or maybe the warmth came from inside Lisa.

"You could've said something you know!" Lisa laughed through the tears.

"Sorry." Yukina was smiling. "I will next time."

Ako interrupted their moment, drawing all eyes to her. "Let's go to the family restaurant after this!"

"Of course!" Lisa wiped her eyes, sniffling once. "Yukina, Rinko, Sayo, you'll come too right?"

Ako and Rinko both nodded in agreement, but Sayo looked hesitant. "I don't know." She said. "I still need to practice more tonight."

"But Sayo." Lisa smiled, tears gone. "What about their french fries?"

Sayo sighed. "Fine, I'll go." She conceded her defeat. "Just for you though, Lisa."

For Lisa, huh?

She liked the sound of that. She finished putting away her bass, joining her band on their next journey.


End file.
